Prayer

Judaism views prayer as a necessary component to Jewish practice but it breaks prayer into separate categories. Only one small section of prayer is equated to "ask." Prayers are more often either praise of recognition/thanks (or, in another sense, permission).

A prayer therefore can be structured as "thank you for being you, God" or "I have this obligation to do something so I'm recognizing that I have this obligation" or "I know that the whole world belongs to God so before I do ____ it is important for me to acknowledge that."

That leaves that small section of "please grant me _____" and even those are for more general ideas, not for specific items. Though individuals can add in private requests, we "ask" about big concepts, not things. But even on that level, because asking for big ideas is not appropriate on the Sabbath and holidays, those sections are omitted so the prayer can just be about praise and recognition/thanks.

People outside of Judaism seem to see "askling" as a central and intrinsic part of prayer and they therefore measure their prayer by "getting an answer." But if you see prayer as not about asking, then you don't judge its efficacy by some discernable response.

Prayer.

Utilising one's ability to either visually input and repeat data,  or recall stored data and convert it into a narrative, either internally or projected externally as sound.

Something that humans sometimes attribute temporary significance to.......A bit like ordering a meal from a Chinese restaurant.

Or like the above discussion, in fact.

And then do something else, and forget about the prayer, or digest the fried rice.

Humans are brilliant at doing stuff.

And if temporary satisfaction is gained peaceably from any recreational activity such as praying, eating Chinese style food with friends, debating or watching  pornography, then who is to criticize.

Though criticizing others,  is yet another example of how humans acquire satisfaction from their ability to store and recall complex data.

So in all sincerity......Enjoy your praying and your debating and your meal and your porn video.

Regards Zed

TS said  "One wonders what type of drugs you are using.  Prayer is quite simple really. It is talking with God.  That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. It is talking."

Brother T asks: when you pray for "something" that you need, you are insulting God because of the following passage: "Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8). 

Furthermore, I have learned that prayer in this respect is like gambling, where you never talk about your losses!  

Rosends and  Tradesecret, why don't the two of you discuss the blatant differences between prayer relative to Judaism and Christianity?  

If you wish me to respond to you in any topic in this forum you will remove all derogatory remarks about me from them. Otherwise I will simply see it as nothing less than what it is.  Trollish behaviour. Stalking behaviour. Defamatory behaviour. I will refuse to respond. 

Tradsecret wrote: @ zedvictor4One wonders what type of drugs you are using.  #8

I know that there is a practice among some non-Jews to say a prayer to St. Anthony when something is lost. There is a similar practice among some people in Judaism (https://rmbhcharities.com/lost-object/) . It hasn't really caught on though. Years ago, when my mother-in-law was alive, she used to point out that she said a prayer to St. Anthony to find stuff (even though she was Jewish). It annoyed my wife so much that every time my MIL lost something, my wife would say the Jewish equivalent so if my MIL bragged that St. Anthony helped, my wife would say "no, it was God, because I said this other prayer."

No, my wife didn't believe that the prayer allowed the thing to be found. But it DID annoy her mother, so...